Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Undying

Warning: Long rant ahead!

So my guild very recently completed a 10 man Undying run. For those of you that do not know what I am talking about, this achievement means that whoever was in 10 man Naxx did not die on any of the bosses for that raid id. For those who completed this achievement, they get the privilege to display the new title, "the Undying," behind their character name. Many guilds use this title and the Heroic Naxx equivalent, "the Immortal," as a way to display their superiority.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't see anything wrong with being proud of having such an achievement under your belt because it isn't one that depends on random luck or grinding for massive amounts of time but is indicative of your own ability along with that of your group. However, having such an achievement available means there will be drama-rama.

Remember Zul'Aman?
That was THE 10 mans to do in TBC when it first came out. By then, Kara was a joke and many people thought at first it was supposed to be the next step up from Kara since it was a 10 mans. Dead wrong. You definitely needed gear beyond Kara or uberly skilled at your class if you were undergeared to clear ZA. Most likely it was guilds that did 25 mans that did ZA, not the casual family guilds that were only doing Kara.

The thing is that ZA didn't offer great gear, maybe some pieces that were really really nice but alot of the stuff wasn't that great and it looked horrible imo! So why did people want to do ZA?

They did it all for the bear.
There were supporters and detractors of the bear, some people loved it and some people hated it. I personally think it is ugly but it does have its own charm. It was the only bear mount available in game before we got the Blizzcon bears and the black war bear mounts. It also meant that you successfully completed the 4 chest event in ZA, something requiring a 10 man group to operate in perfect synchrony and little to no room for error.

It was a big fat trophy and there was only 1 every week available per raid id.

Now what does this have to do with 10 man Undying runs? Just like the ZA bear, people didn't care about getting it until Blizzard decided there would be a deadline to get it. Well technically I am wrong because it is still possible to get "the Undying" after patch 3.1, but the proto drakes you get for doing Glory of the raider will not be available!

When people realized that the ZA bear was not available, the demand for them rose sharply - to the point where people would pay for a spot in a ZA raid run by a guild that had the chest event on farm status. Hell, people would gquit over this if they felt like they deserved a bear and that person didn't, not just willing to pay upwards of 10k for one.

What does this all have to do with the Undying?

Well, before when my guild didn't get it yet, people couldn't be bothered to do 10 man Naxx since all the best gear came from 25 mans. Yet now that the guild got it (I was asked but I couldn't go for my own reasons), all the previously couldn't be bothered with it people are clamoring for a spot in 10 man Naxx. They are upset they didn't get included. -.-

Why are people so butt hurt over this when they couldn't be bothered to try for it in the first place?

No one wants to work hard but they all want the rewards. How many wipes and tense minutes of sweating do you think it took for people to get the ZA bear or the Undying title? It's an adrenaline rush in a pressure cooker event. No one wants to die because that will cost the group everything, it's ultra stressful. Most people don't want to be put through that pressure wringer when the ultimate rewards are so uncertain and shaky. The moment it goes on "farm" status though, everyone wants a piece of the pie regardless of who worked so hard to achieve the status.

"They deserve it too!" Everyone thinks they are every bit as good as the people that got the achievement done but the thing is, do they deserve it? I know I'm just as good as the holy pally in the raid that got it but I do not deserve the title because I didn't try for it with them. I didn't suffer through heartbreak of missing the title by a close margin and I didn't put myself through that intense situation of having a flawless run. I don't have the right to say that I should be included now to get that title just because I am every bit as good. I still wasn't there and didn't make myself available.

"If I knew you guy would get it, I would've been in on the run!" Well if you knew, of course you would've but you weren't so you don't get to be in the run just because you say you should be. You need the right raid make up of people that know exactly what they are doing, the right class make up so every fight goes smooth and synergy! If it were easy and all the cogs in the machine were easily interchangeable, it wouldn't make the achievement hard.

Yes, I know I sound unsympathetic and yes, I don't have the title but I was so disgusted by the fact people got all butthurt by their "exclusion" from the Undying run. It was the ZA bear all over again.

I know raid content right now is easy and "lulz epix" but it doesn't mean that everything is up for grabs. The achievements are one thing that people should not expect to be carried, it is not a free cake ride for you! In order to be Undying and the envy of all the "lol noobzers" people in awe of your obvious prowess, you need to carry your own weight first! If you won't wipe with the progression team, don't be surprised if you are considered back up raider or filler then!

Well, sorry for the bitchfest but I detest the idea of people whining how they weren't carried for an Undying run. It's bad enough that most guilds run with certain people in raids that get rewards for minimal effort but achievements that are supposed to reflect on your ability as a player? Get real!

I guess I sound elitist but honestly, if you are a bad player, I hate you. You ruin my game play because you don't know how to stay out the fire, how to stay still when flame wreath is up or when to stop pew-pewing. So if you want to know why you aren't in on the Undying run, it's because you suck.

2 comments:

Amen! I just had the most awful time trying to convince people that Malygos was worth working for, not just having it handed to them. People were wimping out and not signing up for runs because it was "too hard".

QQ more n00b.

And now that we have the damn thing dead there are a bunch of people whining that they don't have their "Champion of the Frozen Wastes" title and ZOMG we must do moar Maly NAO!!!

Really? Well where the hell were you last week when we had only 15 signups and only 10 of those showed?